Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Carob powder The pods are collected when brown, broken open and the hard seeds removed. The empty pods are washed and dry roasted and finally milled to a very fine powder, which is naturally sweet. This powder can be used in the same way as cocoa.It has many nutritional values. The carob tree grows in the Mediterranean and is scientifically called Ceratonia siliqua.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Chakkavaratti is a typical Keralite sweet dish prepared from ripe jack fruit.They Prepare this recipe in Urali. It is very tasty and you can make instant payasam, adai with this. This can be kept for months. Visit this site for more information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit

Chakkavaratti

Ripe jack fruit………1/2 kilo

Jaggery…………….11/2 kilo

Grated coconut……..1 cup

Ghee…………………2 tbsp

Method

Remove the seeds from the chakkapazham (jackfruit).

Cut into small pieces and boil this with 1 cup of water,

When it is cooked grind coarsely.

Add jaggery and boil. No need to add water.

Stir continuously till it becomes very thick .

Add ghee and coconut and remove from the flame.

Keep it a tight jar.(Want to keep this chakkavaratti for a longer period do not add coconut) .

It takes more than an hour to make chakkavaratti in a heavy bronze vessel called urali.

Uses of chakkavaratti:- we can eat it like jam, make elai adai or chakka pradhaman/ payasam.

Chakkavaratti Pradhaman(Jack fruit Payasam)

Ingredients

Chakkavaratti……………….1cup

Cardamom powder…. …………….½ tsp

Coconut milk (thick)………….2cups

Water ……………………… 1.cup

Jaggery………………………1/2 cup

Method

Boil the water with jaggery.

When jaggery melts add the chakkavaratti and mix well.

Reduce the heat and add the coconut milk.

When all mix well, turn off the heat add coconut and cardamom powder

Elai Ada

Elai Adai with Chakkavaratti

Soak parboiled rice and raw rice for more than 6 hours.

Grind in to smooth paste adding sufficient salt.(like dosa batter)

Take a leaf and show in the flame to make it flexible.

Apply ghee on it. First spread the batter on the leaf.

Keep 1 tsp chakkavaratti in the centre and fold it into half.

Steam these adai’s like idli.Instead of chakkavaratti you can use modak purnam(jaggery and coconut mix)